After being caught in a torrential downpour Friday night at the free Alvin Ailey performance in Central Park, we wrung ourselves dry and made a fresh start on Saturday morning–joining the other crazy people who were out in the record-setting heat.
On our way downtown, we spotted a sign for the Hester Street Fair, and–realizing we were just a block or so away–detoured.
We hear we are a little late to the party. The Hester Street Fair apparently debuted at the end of April (and has been around for ages if you consider its 19th-century pushcart roots–where merchants wheeled their wares, and I quote, “hither and thither”!), but we are so glad to have discovered this (relatively) new addition to the New York market scene.
The fair is small compared to other of its kind (e.g. the Brooklyn Flea), but it had some really impressive offerings. And it sounds like the curated vendor roster changes, at least to some degree, weekly.
The food alone was worth a visit. Luke’s Lobster and Sigmund Pretzel were there, as were Guerrilla Ice Cream and Macaron Parlour.
Aron immediately grabbed a pretzel cookie, but was tempted again shortly by the Red Bean Paste-filled Japanese waffles, Taiyaki. (Cute!)
I held out for an ice-cream sandwich: brown butter bourbon cookies with peach ice cream. The cookies were so tasty (somewhat reminiscent of favorites from California), and I would even buy just them if given the chance.
Aron cooled off in the misting tent.
I admired unmentionables from Jemima Jackman, and we took home a reusable water bottle with a carbon filter from Bobble.
But the best bit of all…
…we bought bikes!
Hooray! We’ve been wanting bikes* of our own for what seems like forever. And in just two days, we’ve already put them to good use! Our sore derrières would suggest that we’ve lowered the price-per-use ratio significantly.
*In full disclosure, Aron did bring a bike to New York from home, but: Sorry, dad, your lovely Motobecane has not weathered well.
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